Method and apparatus for treating metallic melts



Dec. 5, 1967 H. FEICHTINGER 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING METALLIC MELTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledFeb. 24, 1965 Dec. 5, 1967 H FEICHTINGER 3,356,439

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING METALLIC MELTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledFeb. 24, 1965 1967 H. FEICHTINGER 3,

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING METALLIC MELTS Filed Feb. 24, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR fier'orre/ 7; 16'; 0/-

United States Patent 6 3,356,489 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATINGMETALLIC MELTS Heinrich Feichtinger, Schafihausen, Switzerland, assignorto Georg Fischer Aktiengesellschaft, Schaifhausen, Switzerland FiledFeb. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 434,856 Claims priority, applicationSwitzerland, Feb. 28, 1964, 2,478/64 Claims. (Cl. 75-46) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a method of and apparatusfor treating molten metallic charges, especially steel melts, with areactive material for purposes of degasifying, deoxidizing, theformation of finely and uniformly distributed crystal nuclei, and theuniform introduction and distribution of alloying elements into the meltwhile excluding air.

The present invention is characterized primarily in that the melt entersthe treatment chamber or reaction chamber broken up in such a way thatit on one hand flows down along the wall of said chamber, whichrepresents a pear-shaped downwardly tapering chamber, whereas on theother hand a portion of the melt is passed as a jet through the centralpart of said pear-shaped chamber. While this last mentioned jetlike partfiows through the central portion of said chamber, reaction and alloyingmaterials in gaseous, liquid or solid condition are added thereto. Atthe respective temperature of the melt, the reaction and alloyingmaterials thus added to the melt Will in an explosion-like manner bethrown in a finely dis tributed condition in the form of particles inall directions and against the melt which flows downwardly along thewall of said chamber.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treatingmolten metallic charges, especially steel melts, with a reactivematerial for purposes of degasifying, deoxidizing, the formation offinely and uniformly distributed crystal nuclei and the uniformintroduction and distribution of alloying elements into the melt whileexcluding air.

Methods and devices of the above general character are already known inwhich the introduction of reactive material and alloying elements iseffected in two vertical flowthrough reaction chambers which areinterconnected and are provided with a refractory lining.

It is an object of the present invention to improve the above-mentionedmethod and device in order to obtain a better mixing of the melt and thereaction and alloying materials introduced into the chambers.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of andapparatus for treating metallic melts as set forth above, which willpermit introducing the required quantities of alloying elements andreaction materials in a precisely measured and controlled manner.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear moreclearly from the following specification in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a section through an apparatus according to thepresent invention with a treatment chamber,

FIG. 2 represents a section through the same apparatus as shown in FIG.1 but with an additionally alloying chamber,

FIG. 3 represents the application of the inventive apparatus in castinga normal production mould.

The present invention is characterized primarily in that the melt entersthe treatment chamber or reaction chambe broken up in such a way that iton one hand flows ice down along the wall of said chamber, whichrepresents a pear-shaped downwardly tapering chamber, whereas on theother hand a portion of the melt is passed as a jet through the centralpart of said pear-shaped chamber. While this last mentioned jetlike partflows through the central portion of said chamber, reaction and alloyingmaterials in gaseous, liquid or solid condition are added thereto. Atthe respective temperature of the melt, the reaction and alloyingmaterials thus added to the melt will in an explosion-like manner bethrown in a finely distributed condition in the form of particles in alldirections and against the melt which flows downwardly along the wall ofsaid chamber. This explosion-like reaction is furthermore aided by thefact that in the upper portion of the treatment chamber there isprovided a conical body which divides the melt in such a way that partof the melt covers the wall of the treatment chamber to a major extent.

The said conical body has its central portion provided with .a bore topermit treatment of that part of the melt which passes therethrough.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, as outlined above, theapparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 is the same with the exception that FIG. 2contains an additional alloying chamber and, therefore, allcorresponding parts in FIGS. 1 and 2 have been designated with the samereference numerals.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises an upper ladle 1 adaptedto receive a melt to be treated from an electric arc furnace. This meltis supplied to said upper ladle 1 in such a way that during the entiretreatment process said ladle remains filled with liquid steel at anapproximately uniform level. The bottom of ladle 1 is provided with anopening 17, the lower end of which flares and is adapted to be closed bya stopper 27 which may be lowered and raised selectively through theintervention of a handle 1a. Within the flared out section of opening 17there is provided a conical body or divider 14 having a central bore orfirst passage means therethrough and also having openings or secondpassage means 16 therethrough near the periphery of the body 14. Thisbody 14 serves for dividing the melt flowing downwardly from opening 17.The bore or first passage means 15 through which the melt is able topass into a treatment chamber 3, is substantially coaxial with opening17. It will thus be appreciated that the melt passing through opening 17will on one hand flow through the openings 16 and on the. other handthrough the central bore 15 into treatment chamber 3. The melt passingthrough openings 16 will flow downwardly along the inner wall of thepear-shaped chamber 3 and shortly before reaching the bottom opening 18of chamber 3 will mix with the treated melt which passed through bore 15and will together therewith in a single jet pass through an opening 24into a collecting ladle 2. While the openings or second passage means 16are shown as a straight bore, they may include a spiral path forimparting a twist upon the melt passing therethrough.

The lower end 1b of the apparatus has connected thereto a cylindricaltubular body 34 which extends approximately to the bottom of thecollecting ladle 2. When the melt flows into collecting ladle 2, saidtubular body 34 will prevent the spray of the melt from hitting theinner wall of the collecting ladle 2. That portion of tubular body 34which is immersed into the melt in ladle 2 will gradually melt andcombine with the melt in the ladle. Therefore, each time ladle 2 hasbeen filled, it will be necessary to connect a new tubular body 34 tothe lower end 1b surrounding opening 24 of the apparatus.

' In order to bring the apparatus according to FIGS. 1 and 2 intoreadiness for operation, first opening 17 is closed by stopper 27,whereupon all chambers communi- 3 eating with the treatment chamber 3and/ or 11 (FIG. 2) are scavenged with argon or another suitable gas,such as helium or nitrogen.

To this end, the inner chambers of a container 4 for alloying materials19 and a container 29 for receiving coiled metal strands (one containeronly being shown) are through the intervention of a connecting conduit31a, 30 scavenged with gas from a source of gas stored for instance in acontainer 31. From the inner chambers of containers 4 and 29 the gaspasses through openings 9 and 28 into treatment chambers 3 and 11 whilethe air escapes through openings 24. After the inner chambers have beenscavenged, the gas supply from container 31 is shut off by correspondingmanipulation of shut-off valve 32, and the treatment process for themelt is initiated. In connection with the scavenging of the abovementioned inner chambers by gas, it is to be noted that containers 4 and29 are sealed completely air-tight.

Over the embodiment of FIG. 1, merely the supply of alloying materialsor metallic salts is effected differently in the arrangement of FIG. 2.Whereas said supply in the arrangement of FIG. 1 is effected in the samemanner as that of the reaction materials in the form of a metallicstrand (not shown) of the melt, the supply of alloying material to themelt according to the embodiment of FIG. 2 is effected within a secondtreatment chamber 11.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the melt introduced into theupper ladle 1 is in treatment chamber 3 in a manner known per se treatedwith deoxidizing metallic elements of the first, second and third groupof the periodic system and with metallic salts, especially halides, andthe mixtures thereof of the third, fourth and fifth group of theperiodic system, especially carbon, silicon, titanium, zirconium,vanadium, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum and tungsten.

The conical body 14 with its bore 15 and passages 16 is instrumental inthe treatment of the melt in treatment chamber 3. Furthermore, forpurposes of treating the melt in the upper range of chamber 3 there isprovided a nozzle 26 through which a mixture of reaction material andgas hits the melt leaving bore 15 at such a speed that said melt will besplit up by the kinetic energy of said jet through said nozzle 26. Theover-pressure built up in the chambers sealed against the atmospherewill escape together with the downwardly flowing melt. Furthermore,above chamber 3 approximately at the level of nozzle 26 there areprovided two openings 9 through which in a manner known per se a wire 8of deoxidized metallic elements and a further wire (not illustrated) ofalloying materials are fed against the melt leaving bore 15. Wire 8composed of reaction materials, and in a similar manner thenon-illustrated wire of alloying materials, are wound upon a roller 25rotatably arranged in container 29. The feeding of wire 8 and similarlyof the non-illustrated wire of alloying materials is best effected byrotating roller 25 through the intervention of a non-illustratedinfinitely variable transmission.

The melt leaving bore 15 collides within a narrow limited rangesimultaneously with the gas jet leaving nozzle 26 and with the twometallic strands. Due to the kinetic energy of the gas jet and in viewof the reaction of the melt with the metallic strands, the melt is splitup into fine particles whereby the ability of the melt to absorb theingredients contained in the gas jet and the metallic wire is materiallyenhanced. When the melt collides with the gas jet leaving nozzle 26 andwith the metallic wires continuously advanced during the treatment ofthe melt, there will take place in the collision range of the four mediaa strong reaction so that the melt will be vehemently split up into fineparticles and thrown against the wall of treatment chamber 3. To avoiddamaging the lining of the inner wall of treatment chamber 3, passages16 of conical body 14 are so designed that the melt while flowingthrough treatment chamber 3 covers the inner wall of chamber 3 to amajor extent thereby forming a protective cover against the particlessprayed around in the collision chamber 10 of the said four media.

With regard to the gas leaving nozzle 26 and intermixed with reactionmaterial, it is to be noted that a steel container 23 serves as gassource, said container communicating through a conduit 20 and shut-offvalve 33 with a pressure container 6. Pressure container 6 is filledwith a reaction material enriched liquid which when valve 33 is openwill, due to the gas pressure in container 23, be conveyed throughconduit 13 to nozzle 26. The melt treated in the above outlined mannerthen flows through opening 24 into collecting ladle 2.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. .2, the melt treated intreatment chamber 3 and containing reaction material passes from opening18 of chamber 3 in the form of a jet into a second treatment chamber 11in order to be intermixed with alloying substances 19, such as halides.The lower portion of treatment chamber 11 is provided with a closurebody 21 which has passages 22 therethrough. Closure body 21 brings aboutan accumulation and mixture of the melt with alloying substances 19. Theupper portion of chamber 11 has an opening 28 through which by means ofa conveyor worm 5 alloying substances 19, such as halides, are conveyedto the melt.

The alloying substances 19 are conveyed from container 4 inpredetermined measured quantities into treatment chamber 11 while themelt passes through chamber 11. The alloying substances 19 due to theirweight drop upon the closure body 21 and are subjected to anintermixture with the melt flowing over the closure body 21. A highlysatisfactory intermixture of the melt with the halides is assured,particularly in view of the fact that the melt will as a single jetleave chamber 3 through opening 18 and will impact upon closure body 21where it temporarily accumulates together with the halides. After thehalides have intermixed with the melt, the thus obtained mixture isconveyed through passages 22 of body 21 and through chamber 12 andopening 24 into collecting ladle 2 of the device.

As has been mentioned above, during the treatment of the melt intreatment chambers 3 and 11, freed gases may together with the meltflowing into ladle 2 escape toward the outside. However, in a mannerknown per se, it is also possible at suitable sections in the walls ofthe treatment chambers to provide venting passages for releasing thefreed gases. In addition thereto, filtering installations of anystandard design may be provided through which the freed and outwardlyflowing harmful gases will be made harmless.

As will be evident from the above, an arrangement according to thepresent invention presents a considerable improvement over heretoforeknown arrangements of the type involved with two treatment chambersinasmuch as a considerably improved intermixture of the melt with thereaction and alloying materials introduced thereinto will be obtained.This permits the feeding of any desired quantity of reaction andalloying materials into the melt.

Example I An example of the treatment of a steel melt (13% chrome steel)with the apparatus as shown in FIG. 1.

A melt of the following composition was carried out as follows:

P.p.rn. C 0.08 Mn 0.5 Si 0.45 Cr 12.5 Ni 3.9 Mo 0.5 Fe Remainder H 5.8

The complete apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 was placed by crane in thepouring pit below the pouring spout of a ton electric arc furnace. Themolten steel from the furnace had a temperature of 1660 C. and wasteemed in to ladle 1.

The stopper 27 was so regulated by the lever In that 45 tons of moltensteel flowed through the apparatus in 90 seconds. The furnace was tiltedso that the level of molten steel in ladle 1 was held at about halffull. At the same time the motor drive was switched on delivering the Mgwire into chamber 10.

Through an infinitely variable drive, the rollers 7 were turned todeliver the Mg wire at a controlled rate of 2.1-2.2 crn./second. Thediameter of the Mg wire was 3 mm. At the same time as the inl;t ofmolten steel, the pressure container 6 of fluid reagents was alsobrought into action.

This contained 3.5 kg. TiCl at a temperature of 25 C. By opening theelectro-magnetic valve 33, an initial pressure of 0.2 atmosphere, laterbuilding up to about 0.5 atmosphere, was formed. For this, argon wasused from the pressure bottle 23 which was supplied through the conduit20.

Argon from the pressure cylinder 31 was supplied over the nozzle 13spraying the TiCl as well as through the openings 9 for the Mg wire andsurrounding the Mg wire so that the part of melt which passed throughthe bore was immediately sprayed into fine droplets. From the abovereaction, Mg vapour and smoke are produced which harm the operators.Therefore the fumes are extracted by a filter plant 49-47, as in FIG. 2.

The chemically reactive materials as well as dust are, to the greaterpart, washed away.

The filter plant requires an extraction fan 44 with a capacity of 30 m./rnin. being drawn through the cow]- ing 41. A fine spray is producedinside the filter by the jets 42, the outlet liquid 45 being circulatedcontinuously back through the jets by a pump 46. This pump has acapacity of 12 m. /hr. at a pressure of approx. 3 atmospheres, causticsoda is added to the circulating 'water to react with the acids andreactive products of the extracted gases.

In the reaction column comprising parts 1b, 3 and 10 the process is asfollows: The metal which flows through the bore 15 is sprayed into finedroplets in chamber 10 and mixes at 18 with the remainder of the meltwhich flows through the openings 16 and down over the walls of thechamber. Finally, the melt accumulates in ladle 2 where the shield 34 isdissolved as the level rises.

As a result, a melt was produced which contained only 2.5 p.p.m. ofhydrogen from a charged melt which had contained initially 5.8 p.p.m. ofhydrogen and can be taken as a very high degree of degasification. Alsothe 0 was reduced from 95-35 p.p.m. By this method, using TiCltreatment, Mg reduced steel gave a fine structure and sound castings.

Example 11 Example of the treatment of a stainless steel melt in theapparatus, as shown in FIG. 2.

A stainless steel melt of the following composition was treated:

The-process was so carried out that:

( l) A decrease in H and 0 content occurred. (2) A decrease in the Scontent was obtained. (3) Special grain refinement was produced.

The treatment was carried out on 'a 5 ton melt. The flowthrough time was122 seconds, the inlet and regulation of the melt was carried out withlever 1a in the same manner as in Example I. The temperature of the meltwas 1650 C.

While the deoxidation in Example I was with Mg, in Example II a mixtureof reagents was fed in by a screw feed 5.

This consisted of 1 part granulated Ca-Si (approx. 33% Ca-65% Si) 1 partsodium borate, 2 parts of granulated CaO and 2 parts CaO (in powderform). Hopper 4 contained 30 kilo of this mixture. In Example II therollers 7 were regulated to give a feed of 1l.2 mm./second so that only14 kilo Mg wire was delivered during the total treatment time of 122seconds into the reaction chamber.

The screw feed 5 was rotated at such a speed as to disperse 22 kilo ofthe above mixture into the reaction chamber 11 in 122 seconds. Thecontainer for the fluid reaction material was filled with niobiumchloride (NbCl at a temperature of 260 C. The niobium chloride wassprayed through a 2.2 mm. nozzle into the chamber 10 at a pressure of0.8 atmosphere. The steel stream which flowed through the bore 15 wasdisintegrated into small droplets by explosive reaction of the Mg wire,led in through inlet 9. Also the NbCl fed through the nozzle 13 producedfurther dispersion of the steel stream into fine droplets.

Through inlet 9 a further mixture of 10% CF Cl an argon was blown inagainst the finely dispersed steel stream. This CF Cl-argon mixture wassupplied from cylinder 31. Experiments show a particularly stronghydrogen reducing action.

The finely dispersed particles of the steel stream flowed into chamber11 where it met and mixed with the desulphurisin-g and deoxidisingreagents which were fed in uniformly through the screw feed 5.

Finally, the steel was similarly collected in ladle 2, as in Example I,from which it was later poured into moulds.

The lining of the column which consisted of Al and MgO bricks, must havea strong resistance to the attack of the slag forming constituents fromthe hopper 4. The complete column is so constructed that the lining canbe easily replaced.

The final results of the experiment showed:

1) That the H content was lowered to 1.8 p.p.m., the O to 12 p.p.m.

(2) The S content was decreased from 0.012 to 0.006%.

The addition of the material from the hopper 4 formed a highly fluidslag which protected the melt in ladle 2 from the atmosphere allowingfurther transport. The fumes that were produced during the process wereextracted by the filter plant as described previously. This consisted of40 an extraction hood, 41 extraction conduit, 42 spray jets, 43 a filterbed of ceramic, 44 an extraction fan with an intake of 30 m. /minute, 45a circulating liquid mixed, in the previous case, with 10% KOH, 46 aliquid centrifugal pump with an output of 12 m. /minute and 47 thefilter container made from 18/8 steel plate. The finely dispersed formin which the NBCl is fed as well as the deoxidation with Cu and Mgproduce under the conditions existing in the reaction column (i.e.completely air tight) a melt which gives a fine, uniformly distributedgrain size. After pouring, the castings produced were completely soundand free from porosity.

The examples describe here the use of the reaction column for thetreatment of steel melts in connection with an electric arc furnace.They show that the reaction column can also be used for theaddition ofother melt additions during treatment. The short cycle processes carriedout here could also be used for continuous treatment.

Example 111 In a third example the installation of the reaction columnis described whereby the steel is poured from a ladle above the column112 and into a mould. In the ladle 50, which was supported by a crane53, were 3.6 tons of molten steel.

The most important elements in this melt were:

Percent C 0.22 Mn 0.65 Ni 0.21 Si 0.32

By opening the stopper 51, the flow of molten steel was regulatedthrough the opening 51 so that the level in ladle 1 was held at halffull. The flow of metal was controlled by lever 101, so that the 3.6tons required 160 seconds to flow through.

The melt was deoxidised by Mg wire 8 additions as well as granulatedCaSi fed in by the screw feed 5. For grain refinement, a mixture ofcarbon tetrachloride 70% and titanium chloride 30% was dispersed intothe reaction chamber 10 from the container 6. The addition of thesereagents was carried out in a similar manner to that de scribed inExample I and II. The extraction of the fumes produced was similar toExamples I and II using the filter plant 4047. The temperature of thesteel in the ladle 50 was 1660 C., the temperature at the exit of thecolumn at 24 was 1590 C. As in the previous experiments, the melt wasthoroughly deoxidised, the hydrogen as well being substantially reduced.The oxygen was lowered from 75 to 12 p.p.m., the hydrogen reduced from5.2 ppm. to 2.8 ppm. The casting produced in the mould 56 showed auniform structure which was due to the uniform deoxidation as well as tothe titanium arbide additions. The titanium carbide was obtained fromthe mixture of carbon tetrachloride and titanium chloride (2.5 kg. ofthis mixture was used). 1.3 kg. of Mg was added in the form of 3 mm.diameter wire as well as 1.2 kg. of CaSi.

What I claim is:

1. A method of treating metallic melts in a continuous flow through atreatment chamber having an inlet and an outlet, which includes thesteps of: introducing the melt to be treated into said treatment chamberwhile splitting said introduced melt into a first portion and a secondportion, passing said first portion along the wall surface of saidtreatment chamber in the direction toward said outlet while passing saidsecond portion likewise in the direction toward said outlet in the formof a central stream through a portion of said chamber in spacedrelationship to said second portion, prior to said central streamreaching said outlet introducing material to be added to said melt intosaid stream so as to cause said material in an explosion-like manner tobreak up into fine particles and to be thrown into said second portionflowing along said wall surface for intermixture therewith, and unitingsaid first and second portions prior to their leaving said outlet.

2. A method of treating metallic melts in a continuous flow through atreatment chamber having an inlet and an outlet, which includes thesteps of: introducing the melt to be treated into said treatment chamberwhile splitting said introduced melt into a first portion and a secondportion, passing said first portion along the wall surface of saidtreatment chamber in the direction toward said outlet while passing saidsecond portion likewise in the direction toward said outlet in the formof a central stream through a portion of said chamber in spacedrelationship to said second portion, prior to said central streamreaching said outlet introducing reaction material to be added to saidmelt into said stream so as to cause said material in an explosion-likemanner to break up into fine particles and to be thrown into said secondportion flowing along said wall surface for intermixture therewith,uniting said first and second portions prior to their leaving saidoutlet and passing the thus reunited portions in the form of a streamthrough said outlet, and subsequently intermixing said last-mentionedStream with an additional material to be added to the melt.

3. A method according to claim 2, which includes the step of temporarilyaccumulating said last-mentioned stream for feeding alloying materialthereinto.

4. A method according to claim 1, which includes preventing atmosphericair from entering said chamber means.

5. An apparatus for treating metallic melts in a continuous manner,which includes: a vessel for receiving the melt to be treated, saidvessel having a discharge opening in the lower portion thereof, achamber arranged below said vessel and having an upper inlet forcommunication with said discharge opening and also having a lower outletfor discharging treated melt, said chamber including an upper sectionflaring downwardly and a lower section tapering downwardly in thedirection toward said outlet, and dividing means arranged in said uppersection and having its central portion provided with first downwardlydirected passage means and having its marginal area provided with seconddownwardly directed passage means for splitting the melt entering saidupper section into a marginal flow along the wall surface of said uppersection and into a central flow spaced from said marginal flow, saidchamber being provided with passage means arranged below said dividingmeans and extending into said chamber below said dividing means forfeeding material to be added to the melt into said lower section.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, in which said dividing means isformed by a frusto-conical body with a central downwardly tapering bore.

7. An apparatus according to claim 5, in which the said lower sectiontapers toward said outlet to such an extent that the said lower sectionwill during the passage of the melt therethrough act as a closedchamber.

8. An apparatus according to claim 5, in which said second passage meansinclude a spiral path for imparting a twist upon the melt passingtherethrough.

9. An apparatus for treating metallic melts in a continuous process,which includes: a vessel for receiving the melt to be treated, saidvessel having a discharge opening in the lower portion thereof, firstchamber means arranged below said vessel and having an upper inlet forcommunication with said discharge opening and also having a lower outletfor discharging melt treated in said first chamber means, said firstchamber means including an upper section flaring downwardly and a lowersection tapering downwardly in the direction toward said outlet,dividing means arranged in said upper section and having its centralportion provided with first downwardly directed passage means and havingits marginal area provided'with second downwardly directed passage meansfor splitting the melt entering said upper section into a marginalflowalong the wall surface of said first section and into a central flowspaced from said marginal flow, said first chamber means being providedwith first passage means arranged below said dividing means andextending into said first chamber means below said dividing means forfeeding a material to be added to the melt into said lower section,second chamber means arranged below said first chamber means andcommunicating therewith through said outlet, said second chamber meanshaving its lower portion provided with a discharge outlet for the melttreated in said second chamber means, and flow restricting meansarranged in said second chamber means preceding said discharge outletfor accumulating 9 10 the melt prior to its passing through saiddischarge outlet, References Cited said second chamber means beingprovided with second UNITED STATES PATENTS passage means for feedingadditional material to be added 2,997,386 8/1961 Feichtinger 75 58 tothe melt into said second chamber means.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, which includes 5 DAVID L RECK,Primary Emmi-"en a cylindrical body surrounding said discharge outlet inspaced relationship thereto and extending downwardly HYLAND BIZOT forimmersing into a vessel for accumulating the treated N. P. BULLOCH, H.W. TARRING, material. Assistant Examiners.

1. A METHOD OF TREATING METALLIC MELTS IN A CONTINUOUS FLOW THROUGH ATREAMENT CHAMBER HAVING AN INLET AND AN OUTLET, WHICH INCLUDES THE STEPSOF; INTRODUCING THE MELT TO BE TREATED INTO SAID TREATMENT CHAMBER WHILESPLITTING SAID INTRODUCED MELT INTO A FIRST PORTION AND A SECONDPORTION, PASSING SAID FIRST PORTION ALONG THE WALL SUREFACE OF SAIDTREATMENT CHAMBER IN THE DIRECTION TOWARD SAID OUTLET WHILE PASSING SAIDSECOND PORTION LIKEWISE IN THE DIRECTION TOWARD SAID OUTLET IN THE THEFORM OF A CENTRAL STREAM THROUGH A PORTION OF SAID CHAMBER IN SPACEDRELATIONSHIP TO SAID SECOND PORTION, PRIOR TO SAID CENTRAL STREAMREACHING SAID OUTLET INTRODUCING MATERIAL TO BE ADDED TO SAID MELT INTOSAID STREAM SO AS TO CAUSE SAID MATERIAL IN AN EXPLOSION-LIKE MANNER TOBREAK UP INTO FINE PARTICLES AND TO BE THROWN INTO SAID SECOND PORTIONFLOWING ALONG SAID WALL SURFACE FOR INTERMIXTURE THEREWITH, AND UNITINGSAID FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS PRIOR TO THEIR LEAVING SAID OUTLET.
 5. ANAPPARATUS FOR TREATING METALLIC MELTS IN A CONTINUOUS MANNER, WHICHINCLUDES: A VESSEL FOR RECEIVING THE MELT TO BE TREATED, SAID VESSELHAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING IN THE LOWER PORTION THEREOF, A CHAMBERARRANGED BELOW SAID VESSEL AND HAVING AN UPPER INLET FOR COMMUNICATIONWITH SAID DISCHARGE OPENING AND ALSO HAVING A LOWER OUTLET FORDISCHARGING TREAT MELT, SAID CHAMBER INCLUDING AN UPPER SECTION FLARINGDOWNWARDLY DIRECTED PASSAGE MEANS TAPERING DOWNWARDLY IN THE DIRECTIONTOWARD SAID OUTLET, AND DIVIDING MEANS ARRANGED IN SID UPPER SECTION ANDHAVING ITS CENTRAL PORTION PROVIDED WITH FIRST DOWNWARDLY DIRECTEDPASSAGE MEANS AND HAVING ITS MARGINAL AREA PROVIDED WITH SECONDDOWNWARDLY DIRECTED PASSAGE MEANS FOR SPLITTING THE MELT ENTERING SAIDUPPER SECTION INTO A MARGINAL FLOW ALONG THE WALL SURFACE OF SAID UPPERSECTION AND INTO A CENTRAL FLOW SPACED FROM SAID MARGINAL FLOW, SAIDCHAMBER BEING PROVIDED WITH PASSAGE MEANS ARRANGED BELOW SAID DIVIDINGMEANS AND EXTENDING INTO SAID CHAMBER BELOW SAID DIVIDING MEANS FORFEEDING MATERIAL TO BE ADDED TO THE MELT INTO SAID LOWER SECTION.